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President's Letter |
Children's book writer and illustrator Laurie Keller is the author of Arnie the Doughnut, Grandpa Gazillion's Number Yard, The Scrambled States of America and other titles. After several years spent establishing her career in New York, Keller is back living in her hometown of Muskegon, Mich. She recently sat down to talk with Crimson & Gold about the creative process, divine intervention and how Hallmark Cards changed her life. Crimson & Gold: How did you get started writing children's books? Laurie Keller: I worked for Hallmark at their headquarters in Kansas City right after graduating from Kendall for more than seven years. On my lunch hour I used to go to this wonderful children's bookstore and pour through all these books. I was just so inspired I thought this is really, really what I want to do. Then I started doing some writing at Hallmark. I was in a workshop where they let you do whatever you wanted, and if they liked what you did, they would pop it into their card line. So I had total creative freedom for four months. It really was life-changing, because I had a hard time going back to my regular job. [Laughs]. Then one night as I was falling asleep some little states with arms and legs and faces popped into my head. After that I wrote the story for The Scrambled States of America in a little over three weeks. I swear it was divine intervention, because everything went so smoothly. C&G: Was it hard getting that first book published? LK: On my lunch hours I called publishers and made plans to go to New York. I was so naïve, because normally they either want you to be represented by an agent, or they contact you because they've seen something. Four publishers actually agreed to meet with me. They looked at my artwork, and I left some samples behind. That was the first time I had been to New York and I fell in love with it. So I started to make plans to sell my house, quit my job and move there. I got a contract from Hallmark to do one card a week for Shoebox Cards - so I knew I'd be able to pay my rent even if I didn't get any other work. The month before I quit I got a call from Nickelodeon Television. They had seen something I'd done that was in Print magazine and they gave me a freelance job doing animation for commercials. Six months after I interviewed with them, and the week after I quit my job, I got a call from Henry Holt. They said, "We want to publish your book." A staff person tacked up one of my cards on her door and an editor saw it and ended up reading my manuscript. She called me that day. Again, I swear it was divine intervention. There were literally no text changes. It's never happened like that since. C&G: What media do you work in? LK: In the first couple of books I did a lot of collage. Then the most recent one and the one I just finished are strictly acrylic. I'm starting to learn Photoshop, so I may try to incorporate some of that. My editor encourages me to try different things, which I like. I don't want to just do the same thing all the time. The characters have a similar look as I refine my work, but I want to try different styles. C&G: You also collaborate on books. How different is that process? LK: My own books evolve along the way. There's a lot of little side things that develop apart from the main text. As I'm starting a piece of art - working late into the night - little ideas, weird things, pop into my head. Parents like them, because they don't have to read them - they're asides. Sometimes they're geared more toward adults who have to read the story over and over again. On the books I've illustrated for other people, I don't actually talk with the author along the way. Sometimes they have suggestions about what to illustrate, but most of the time you just look through and see what you want to highlight, because there are usually 2-3 illustrations per chapter. I've gotten hired for my sense of humor. It's a challenge to take something that's a little dry and add some life to it. Someday I'd like to write something and have somebody else illustrate to see their take on it. C&G: What's harder - writing or illustrating? LK: I'm not trained as a writer. Sometimes it comes quickly; at other times it's like pulling teeth. [laughs]. My book Open Wide: Tooth School Inside really was like pulling teeth, because I had to do a lot of research, and I just couldn't get the setting right. Sometimes I bump into people who are not authors who think writing kids books is the easiest thing in the world. That's insulting to authors; and it's insulting to kids, who are a lot more sophisticated than people seem to realize. They don't want to read something that somebody just slaps down on the page. C&G: What other things have inspired books? LK: With Grandpa Gazillion's Number Yard I was just filling up a page with doodles. When I looked at it a little bit later I saw that I had drawn the number "1" kind of sideways and this character was standing on it as though he was riding a skateboard. That's what made me think of doing this book of using numbers for things other than counting. Arnie the Doughnut was inspired by going into Krispy Kreme for the first time while I was living in New York. I didn't think my editor would go for it.
LK: I went to Muskegon Community College on and off for 5 years - I didn't know quite what I wanted to do. I'd always drawn things, but I didn't realize people could go into art as a career. I got involved in a dance program at MCC and was offered a scholarship for dance. I just didn't know how long of a career I could have in that. Then a friend of mine took me to Kendall for a senior show. I realized then that I wanted to be an illustrator, so I enrolled the following fall. C&G: What's in the future for Laurie Keller fans? LK: I've been working for the past year or so on a book about the Golden Rule. It was tricky, because I didn't want it to be preachy or boring. I like to play around with words and phrases, and that's what finally got me on the right track. I ended up with this little rabbit character whose new neighbors are three otters who are very silly, outgoing and crazy. He's never met an otter before and he's kind of freaking out because he doesn't know if they'll get along. It's called Do Unto Otters (As You Would Have Otters Do Unto You). I had to play around with that for awhile to see if it was going to work, but I finally knew that was the thing I was looking for. This past May Keller received the honor of being a Distinguished Alumna of Kendall College of Art and Design. Do Unto Otters (As You Would Have Otters Do Unto You) is scheduled to appear from Henry Holt in August 2007. |
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